Decoy carrying case



Jan. 21, 1958 A. J. NELSON DEcoY CARRYING CASE Filed April 5, 1954 INVENTOR.

Unite Dacor CARRYING CASE Arthur Il. Nelson, Milwaukee, Wis., assignor to Pulp Reproduction Company, Milwaukee, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application April 5, 1954, Serial No. 420,876

2 Claims. (Cl. 2015-65) The present invention relates generally to improvements in housings for facilitating the transportation and storage of groups of articles, and relates more specifically to improvements in the construction and operation of carrier cases for a number of decoys or the like.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved carrying case especially adapted to house a group of hunters decoys in compact and well protected arrangement for easy transportation and convenient storage of such articles.

For many years duck hunters decoys were primarily carved from wood and it was common practice for the users to transport and store the wooden articles in jumbled masses Within gunny sacks or the like. More recently, such decoys have been manufactured of paper pulp, and while these pulp articles are not quite as sturdy and durable as the wooden decoys, they are considerably lighter in weight and can be more readily moulded to simulate the natural birds and can also be produced at far lower cost. However, when either of these types of decoys are subjected to rough handling while confined en masse in a bag or the like, they frequently become marred by chipping of coatings `or breakage of projecting parts such as tails and bills, so that the prior methods of storing and carrying such articles are exceedingly bjectionable.

It is therefore an important object of my invention to provide an improved carrier especially adapted for the transportation, storage and display of a group of duck decoys or the like, which will maintain such articles well concealed and protectively segregated from each other.

Another important object of this invention is to provide an improved housing for compactly confining a plurality of similar articles such as hunters decoys, and for effecting easy carrying and transportation thereof in an automobile `or the like.

A further important object of the invention is to pro vide an improved display case for duck or bird decoys, whereby such articles can be attractively displayed for sales purposes.

Still another important object of the present invention is to provide a simple, neat, durable and relatively inexpensive decoy carrier case, which will effectively confine and conceal the decoys while still permitting convenient access thereto.

These and other more specific objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description from which it will be noted that the gist of my improvement is the provision of a decoy carrier comprising a casing provided with complementary hingedly connected sections each having a bottom wall and opposed side and end walls of which the swinging walls remote from the hinge are formed to overlap when the sections are closed, a partition confined within each of the sections and having openings therein for holding several decoys in desired position segregated from all others, and a handle carried by the remote swinging wall of one section and interlocking with the corresponding wall of i fice the lother section to lock the sections in closed condition and to facilitate carrying of the casing.

A clear conception of the features constituting the improvement and of the construction and functioning of a commercial decoy carrying case embodying the invention, may be had by referring to the drawing accompanying and forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate the same or similar parts in the various views.

Fig. l is a perspective view of one of the improved carrying cases adapted to house eight duck decoys, the case being fully loaded and partially opened to reveal its contents.

Fig. 2 is a somewhat enlarged part sectional side elevation of the same carrier case, the section having been taken longitudinally through the center of the housing in a plane parallel to the bottom walls of the two hingedly united housing sections; and

Fig. 3 is a similarly enlarged transverse section through the same decoy filled carrier case, the section having been taken along the line 3 3 of Fig. 2.

While the invention has been shown and described as having been embodied in a carrier made of corrugated board and adapted to house eight similar duck decoys, it is not the intention to unnecessarily restrict the im-` proved features by virtue of this limited embodiment; and it is also contemplated that specic descriptive terms employed herein be given the broadest possible interpretation consistent with the disclosure.

Referring to the drawing, the duck decoy carrier shown therein, comprises in general, a casing having a pair of complementary similar sections 6, 7 each provided with a bottom 8 and with opposed end walls 9 and side walls i6, 11 of which the corresponding side walls i@ are interconnected by a hinge 12 while the opposite side walls 1i are of greater Width than the walls itil and are adapted to overlap each other when the sections 6, '7 are swung into closed position about the hinge l2; a partition i3 spanning the interior of each casing section o, 7 parallel to and in spaced relation to its bottom S and each being provided with a series of approximately elliptical openings 14 and an end slit 15, the openings of one partition 13 being staggered relative to those of the other; and a handle 16 having an extensive base plate l? coacting with the interior of the side wall 11 of the section 6, and projecting through this section, the handle lo being cooperable with a slot 18 formed in the other section 7 to maintain the two sections 6, 7 in closed condition.

The various elements of the casing assemblage may be formed of relatively sturdy corrugated paper board or the like, and the side walls lil, 11 are provided with integral flanges 20 adapted to be firmly secured to the adjacent end walls 9 by means of rivets or staples 2i, as illustrated in Fig. l. The partitions 13 should be relatively resilient and may be supported from the adjacent bottoms 8 of the sections 6, 7 by flanges 22 formed integral with these partitions, as shown in Fig. 3; and the approximately elliptical openings M should be formed to snugly frictionally engage the lower body portions of the duck decoys 23. The resilient partitions 13 should also be so located that the distance between their adjacent faces when the casing is closed will cause the heads of the decoys 23 which rest upon the bottom 8 of each section 6, 7 to contact the partition i3 of the opposite casing section when the case is closed, as depicted in Fig. 3; and the openings 14 are so spaced and arranged that they will cause the decoys 23 of the two housing sections 6, 7 to be staggered but compactly grouped and nested when the carrier is closed.

The handle 16 and its supporting plate i7 may be formed of a single piece of stock, and the plate 17 is permanently attached as by gluing with the inner surface of the sidewall '1i ofthe casing section 6, While the handle 16 vis adapted 'to be'snugly inserted through the elongated slot 1S formed in the corresponding side wall 11 of the other section 7. The casing side walls 11 are preferably Vof'substantially the same width as that ofthe closed .cas-

ing in order to cause Vthese sidewalls il 'to overlap to a considerable extent nearV the carrying handle 16 as illustrated in Fig. 3. The duck decoys 23 areall preferably of approximately the same size and shape, but may be vcolored to simulate drakes and hens, and these decoys openings. Vrlhe two casing sections 6, 7 may therefore be swung about the hinge 12 Vtoward each other to cause the slotted side wall 11 of the section 7 to overlie 4the corresponding wall it of the section 6. While the sections 6, 7 are being thus swung toward closed position, the handle i6 should be passed through the slot 18 and thereafter brought into position perpendicular to the walls I 1l as in Figs. 2 and 3, whereupon the overlapped walls l1 will snugly engage each other and the two rows of decoys 23 will be snugly nested within the casing in staggered relation to each other.

The closed housing7 may then be conveniently carried with the aid of the handle ,16 and may also be readily stored While protectively enclosing the decoys 23, and the iiexibility of the partitions 13 is enhanced by the slits 15 so as to permit these partitions to compensate for slight variations in the height of the decoys 23. The case may however be just as easily opened by merely withdrawing the handle i6 from within the slot 1S and by thereafter swinging the sections 6, '7 away from each other about the hingle 12, whereupon the individual decoys 23 may be readily withdrawn from the partition'openings 12.

From the foregoing detailed description `it will be apparent that the present invention provides a compact and sturdy decoy carrying case in which the decoys 23 .are well concealedV and protected while still kbeing con- By staggering the two rows of det veniently accessible. coys 23, the case may be formed of minimum psize but of maximum capacity, and the liexible and resilient partitions coact with the enclosed articles so as to positively `prevent displacement and damage thereto. the case of sturdy corrugated .paper board, a'durable'struc- By forming ture may be `produced at very moderatek cost, .and the improved carrier may also be utilized as an attractive dis- -play mounting for promoting .the sale of the decoys `23.

The invention has proven highly satisfactory and Vsuccessful in actual commercial use, and the improvedcascs may be manufactured toaccommodate any desired number of diverse types of decoysvor the like.

It should be understood that it is Ynot desired to limit this invention to the exact details of construction or to the precise mode of use of the duck decoy carrier case herein specifically illustrated and described, for various modifications Within the scope of the appended claims may be apparent to those skilled in the art.

I claim:

1. A decoy-carrier comprising, :a casing having complementary hingedly united sections each provided with Ya 'bottom bounded -by Vwalls .coopetable with 'the Walls of the Aother sectionto form an enclosure, apartition spaced from the bottom and spanning the interior of each casing section, -each of said partitions having a series Vof decoy positioning and confining openings therein and the openings in one partition Vbcingstaggeredrelative to those in the other, and a set of duck decoys frictionally confined within the openings of each partition, said decoy sets be ing reversely disposed and staggered to correspond Vwith the staggering of said confiningfopenings and the heads of the confined decoys of one set beinginterposable 'oetween the bodies of `those confined in the other section without interfering with the relative swinging of said casing sections, and said partitions being so located that with the carrier closed each partition will engage the tops of the decoys conned within the openings of the other partition.

2. A decoy carrier comprising, a casing having complementary hingedly united sections each provided with a bottom bounded by Walls cooperable with the walls-of the othersection toform an enclosure, a partition spaced from the bottom and spanning the interior of each casing section, each of said partitions having a series of decoy positioning .and confining `openings therein and the openings in one partition being staggered relative to those in the other, and a set of duck decoys lfrictionally -confined within the openings of each partition, said decoy sets being reversely disposed and staggered to correspond with the staggering of said confining openings whereby the confined decoys of one set are freely swingable without obstruction between those of the Aother set and the partitions being so disposed that the bodies ofthe confined decoys of each set will rest upon the bottom of one casing section while the heads of the same decoys engage the partition in the-other casing section when Vthe casing V is closed.

References Cited in the tile of this patent lUNITED STATES PATENTS 

